The United Nations has delivered a scathing decision on the Victorian Government and its police force, saying it has breached an international civil rights covenant after failing to compensate a woman viciously bashed by police.

Corinna Horvath was left unconscious and with a broken nose after being beaten by officers from the local Hastings police station in 1996.

The UN says the state must pay compensation, review its legislation, and tell the UN how it is going to remedy this situation within 180 days.

Time magazine names Indonesian maid, allegedly tortured by her Hong Kong employer, as one of the world's 100 most influential people, shining a spotlight on the city's treatment of its migrant domestic workers.

The panel on ABC's Q&A special episode in Shanghai discuss the level of censorship in China's media and how its citizens are finding different ways to exercise free speech. Panellists: Dr Geoff Raby, former Australian ambassador to China; Mei Yan, businesswoman and media executive; Ma Tianjie, Greenpeace East Asia's program director; Cheng Lei, television presenter; and Guo Jian, Chinese-Australian artist.